Garbage collection protest enters day 3 at City Hall
While Mayor Moya Flowers was facing criminal charges in court, there was plenty more trouble at City Hall where a three-day protest was taking place. The Belize Maintenance Limited has been at odds with City Hall for an outstanding debt of two point seven million dollars. News Five’s Duane Moody found out that councillor Philip Willoughby had another wild idea.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Rain couldn’t stop the B.M.L. employees this morning as they returned to City Hall demonstrating against the huge debt owed by the council. But as the protest was winding down, temperatures soared when application letters from CitCo were issued to the protestors.
Mitchell Danderson, Operations Manager, B.M.L.
“This is blatantly disrespect to our workers, our employees. We are here protesting because we are not being paid and they will come and give us application forms. Word on the street is that they can’t even put gas in the motorcycles for the traffic officers and they are going to give out application forms. They can’t even pay their workers and they wah come and give out application forms to our workers. All the workers want is their money. That is all we are out here for. We want our money, we have worked for it and we want our money, we need our money.”
The CITCO coffers are broke, but Councilor in Charge of Garbage, Philip Willoughby, is not bankrupt of ideas. Earlier this week he proposed to sell off the Commercial Centre and City Hall and today he wants to nationalize B.M.L.
Philip Willoughby, Councillor in Charge of Garbage
“In negotiation process you have to have due diligence and this dah duress now. The employees had their say, Mister Ellis had his say, I wah have my say now. And if it has come to this and ultimately we seem to be in a bind, then now because this is coming at a cost to them and to us politically then it needs be we nationalize B.M.L. and take on these employees. If this will be a continuous ongoing rivalry between them and us, then hear what, take the energy put it to work then we pay unnu you salary.”
But B.M.L. says that all it wants is the money owing to the company.
Lawrence Ellis, Managing Director, B.M.L.
“That is so funny. First of all no body presented me with any options. I can’t comment on any options. But if they want to pay me off, I have no problem with that. But as far as the nationalizing is concerned that is a big joke. There were no firm commitments in that meeting, and if he said that I am being difficult then he is being dishonest. He is being dishonest. If they want to pay B.M.L. what they owe on a payment plan, I have no problem with that. I would love for that to happen. I’m not going to do anything now because we haven’t had any official response from the council. I don’t even know if they met yet or this is a decision that he made on his own just like the decision to sell City Hall. I’m very upset that he made those comments and I am very upset that he presented my employees with job application forms. They are breeching the contract. And they are not breeching the contract because they can’t afford it; they are breeching the contract simply because they are mismanaging the City Council.”
The council’s meeting scheduled for today was postponed until Friday when Willoughby says the nationalization proposal will be tabled. But despite all that, Ellis says that B.M.L. will continue its protest. Duane Moody, reporting for News Five.
